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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269033">In Our Family Portrait</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucienCrow/pseuds/LucienCrow'>LucienCrow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Parker Kids [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive May Parker (Spider-Man), Adoption, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Deaf Clint Barton, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentioned Flash Thompson, Mentioned May Parker (Spider-Man), Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Physical Abuse, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Some Humor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:21:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,901</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269033</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucienCrow/pseuds/LucienCrow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>May Parker marries a man named Ken, and suddenly, everything is going wrong; Peter finally relents and tells the Avengers everything. It's long, and it's hard. With the help of the team, even with emotions running high, the Parker kids feel safe.</p><p>And maybe that action saves the Parker kids, maybe it doesn't.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Peter Parker, Peter Parker &amp; Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker &amp; Pepper Potts, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Parker Kids [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915315</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>111</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. prologue | The Empty Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TRIGGER WARNING: Abuse and violence</p><p> </p><p>Alice Parker is 8 years.<br/>Joey Parker is 7 months.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is how it all went down, but how will it end?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNINGS: Minor mentions of alcoholism, abuse, neglect, cheating, and vulgarity towards wife</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>May Parker is dangerous. May Parker is manipulative. May Parker is vindictive. May Parker hates her kid.</p>
<p>Ken Parker is oblivious. Ken Parker is awkward. Ken Parker strange. Ken Parker makes an effort.</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>At the tender age of 6, Peter was delivered the news that Uncle Ben had passed; it was the most world-shattering news Peter had ever received in his young life. Uncle Ben Parker had died after protecting May Parker from a robbery, and Peter never got to say goodbye. After that, May Parker mourned his death in public, at his funeral, but never at home. Peter mourned his death in public, at his funeral, and most certainly at home.</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>May moved on quickly, bringing home a man named Ken almost four months after Uncle Ben’s death. He was kind, and he played catch with Peter every sunny afternoon after work. It was difficult for Peter to move on, but Ken really tried to help him, giving up valuable time with May to hang out with him. But May didn’t appreciate being ignored by him.</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They had their first fight, and Peter remembers it so very clearly.</p>
<p>
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<p>”What do you mean ‘I’m ignoring you’? I’ve spent so much time with you!” Ken exclaims angrily, throwing his hands up.</p>
<p>
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<p>May slams her hand down on the table and practically snarls, “you spend more damn time with that stupid kid than with me. Why don’t you love me?”<br/><br/></p>
<p>
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<p>“Shut the fuck up!” Ken responds angrily. “You’re such a whore. I spend the same amount of damn time with you and him.”<br/><br/></p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>
  <em> More words were shared, and Peter didn't get any sleep that night. </em>
</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>They got married soon after that and had a little girl named Alice. They weren’t very happy with her, but they treated her decently, gave her clothing and a few toys and some love. Alice joined a little girl’s ballet class that was free for poor families like the Parkers. She grew up resentful because Peter was the only Parker to ever visit her recitals, and Ned came along sometimes. It broke Peter’s heart to watch her face fall coming out on stage because May wasn’t there.</p>
<p>
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<p>May always gave terrible excuses when confronted about never showing up to any of Alice’s stuff.</p>
<p>
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<p>“It’s not that important anyway. I was at work anyway,” May shrugs it off despite knowing that her kid knows she has no job.</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>Then came along little Joey, and he is their pride and joy. And all was well within the household until May got caught by the neighbor fucking his freshly 18-year-old son, Ace. There were implications of them screwing around for longer than that one time that Ken ignored, and he, instead, took his anger out on Peter and the walls and the doors and the lamps. He also started drinking uncontrollably, downing bottle after can after bottle of every type of alcohol.</p>
<p>
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<p>And when Alice turned 6, and she knocked over a cup of water on the family’s computer, Ken started taking his anger out on her. May started disappearing for longer amounts of time, making sure her kids know how much she hates them when she’s home. It was Hell for the two kids every single day. Peter figured it was only time until Joey did something wrong which will cause Ken to take his anger out on him.</p>
<p>
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</p>
<p>
  <em> It was time to leave. </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. i. | The Gray Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>And it begins.</p><p>How will they take the news?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNING: Violence and abuse and terrible humor</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Happy shows up to pick Peter up for his internship on time, but the boy is in the car thirteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds late still shoving his papers into his backpack, nose dripping blood. When asked about his bloody nose, the boy shrugs it off as just an average bloody nose. A quick wipe with his sleeve leaves a small smear and nothing more than that faint trace, but Happy can't stop thinking about the bloody nose as he pulls away from the school.</p><p>
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</p><p>"Tony's gonna be late today," Happy tells Peter at the next red light.</p><p>
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</p><p>The boy gives a small shrug in response, fumbling with his phone. Once it's calmly out of his backpack and into his shaking hands, he dials a number into his phone, staring worriedly at the phone. It rings twice before he hangs up and redials the number, letting it ring twice before dialing it again. This time, someone picks up, and Happy almost asks Peter what he was doing but doesn't when he puts the phone to his ear and starts whispering. He can only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation.</p><p>
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</p><p>"Hey," a lot of garbled mess, "of course," even more garbled mess, "p-pick you up," a stretched and silent and worrying pause, "you'll be," garbled mess, "sa-s-safe here."</p><p>
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</p><p>The phone beeps and Peter limply drops the phone into his lap, frantically wiping at his eyes and turning away from Happy's prying eyes. It broke Happy's cold, dead heart to see the boy so distressed. The car is almost silent, minus the faint sniffing and heavy breathing from Peter, and the conversation echoes loudly in the driver's mind as he stops at another red light. Peter bites down on his sleeve to silence his breathing as Happy stops outside the compound where Pepper and Natasha are waiting.</p><p>
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</p><p>"H-Hey, Hap-Happy," Peter stutters, wiping his eyes again, sniffing louder than before, "can you go pi-ick m-m-my sister and br-broth-ther up? Pl-P-Please, I'd really appreciate i-it."</p><p>
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</p><p>Happy is silent for a moment, looking over Peter, knowing deep down that it's important to the boy based on how disheveled he looks and how silent he is. "Where are they?"</p><p>
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</p><p>"Sch-School," is the only response Peter can give before falling into more crying.</p><p>
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</p><p>A bruise is starting to form on Peter's cheek, another few droplets of blood had dripped from his nose, and Happy finally notices the blood under Peter's nails. When the boy silently gets out of the car, there's a noticeable limp and his backpack is hanging from the wrong shoulder. Over the years, Happy came to know Peter habitually hung his backpack over the same shoulder. Yet, today, it dangled haphazardly from the wrong one, only adding to the already long list of things off about Peter; worry continued to bubble within Happy.</p><p>
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</p><p>"Peter?" Pepper exclaims, hurrying forward to worry all over the boy as Happy drives away, knowing what school his sister goes to, hoping that's the one. "Oh, honey, what happened?"</p><p>
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</p><p>Peter collapses into Pepper's arms, dropping his backpack onto the floor. "I'm scared."</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Neither asks for anything further, Pepper barely holding it together, wanting to just cry along with Peter; Natasha is practically vibrating in anger, ready to stab whoever hurt the kid. Pepper picks up Peter's backpack as Natasha picks the boy up to carry him, taking the weight off his left leg. Inside the compound, Peter is carried past Bucky and Steve who both get up to follow as the kid's carried to the medical wing. Bruce is there, already called by Pepper who had been called by Happy after Peter was late.</p><p>
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</p><p>"What happened?" Bruce asks as Natasha sets Peter down on the bed.</p><p>
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</p><p>"He attack-acked me f-first," Peter whimpers, reaching out for Natasha as she tries to move away. "It was self-def-d-defence, please. The pri-prin-principal c-called May and Ken and they a-are so mad."</p><p>
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</p><p>Natasha gets onto the bed with Peter, forcing down her own discomfort, and she tugs Peter into a side hug, allowing him to lay his head on her chest. Bruce gets cleaning supplies for the blood under his nails and his nose. A moment goes by before a loud ringing erupts through the room, making Peter jump, and Natasha tightens her arms around him to try and comfort him. Pepper answers her phone, stepping away from Peter, and she whispers into the phone with a single glance at Peter.</p><p>
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</p><p>"Medbay," is the only word Peter could make out of Pepper's words to whoever was on the phone.</p><p>
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</p><p>She then turns to the door and beckons the two males in, giving Peter a small glance to make sure that he isn't uncomfortable with them being in the room. Steve heads immediately over to Pepper whilst Bucky hurries over to Natasha and Peter. The boy sits up, Natasha following with her arms staying around him, and he's pulled into her lap so that Bucky has room on the bed to sit. Peter takes Bucky's nonmetal hand and checks for a pulse to help calm himself down.</p><p>
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</p><p>Bucky is quiet for a moment. "Who?"</p><p>
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</p><p>Natasha leans forward to whisper the names into his ear.</p><p>
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</p><p>"I'm going to kill them," Bucky snarls as his entire body becomes stiff, but his anger falls away when Peter starts to cry again. "Sorry, come 'ere."</p><p>
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</p><p>Bucky, much to Natasha's annoyance, pulls Peter from her and cradles him to his chest, flashing a humorous smile at Nat. Peter flinches when Bruce grabs his shirt, both hands flying to grip as tight as possible onto his wrist, head shaking wildly. A soft apology comes before the boy finally allows his shirt to be pulled up. Everyone in the room goes still and silent as an assortment of bruises are displayed, all varying levels of healing, some probably very painful. A hand lands on Peter's shoulder, Natasha's.</p><p>
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</p><p>"Alice?" A soft whisper barely leaves Peter, barely heard over his own breathing.</p><p>
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</p><p>Bruce takes Peter's hand to start to clean it, bare hints of green visible on the doctor's hand. "Happy hasn't called us yet."</p><p>
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</p><p>Bucky starts to hum a Russian lullaby that Natasha joins in on, successfully calming Peter into stillness.</p><p>
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</p><p>"I'm sorry, Pete," Bruce sets the stuff down, "but I need to check for broken ribs."</p><p>
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</p><p>Peter agrees, focusing on the lullaby until Bruce presses down on one of the bruises, and he releases a small whine of pain. It isn't a broken rib, but it is definitely a tender bruise that should heal within the next 24 hours. All of the other bruises get similar reactions, and Bruce is finally satisfied with the fact he has no broken ribs; the shirt is lowered, but his pants are pulled down with permission. The doctor looks over his legs, finding redness on his ankle only- a sprained ankle.</p><p>
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</p><p>"You should be fine," Bruce says, smiling faintly at Peter as he steps away.</p><p>
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</p><p>Gently, Bucky picks Peter up, giving Steve a look before carrying the boy into the main room. He has FRIDAY put on Peter's favorite movie, and he finally decides to share Peter with Natasha, the two of them cuddling around him. Steve sits next to Bucky, and Pepper is in and out of the room, texting angrily with someone on her phone. After the first two songs, the boy starts to hum along, and once <em> Let it Go </em> comes on, Peter is singing.</p><p>
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</p><p>“They’re here,” Pepper says, stopping just behind the filled couch to stare at Peter. “Alice and Joey aren’t hurt.”</p><p>
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</p><p>Peter stands hurriedly, hurrying to meet Happy and his siblings, only to find Clint and Tony there as well. Instantly, Peter hugs Alice, pulling her up off the floor and spinning her. She giggles and starts cheering, wiping her tears as he sets her down on the ground despite her frantic signs of pleads for more spins. When she sees the bruise on her brother’s cheek, Alice acts all concerned and cradles his face softly, asking him what happened.</p><p>
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</p><p>Peter shushes her softly, signing, “it’s okay, it doesn’t even hurt anymore.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Daddy yelled at me and punched a hole in the wall. I ran away with Joey before he could get downstairs,” Alice whispers before laying her head down on Peter’s shoulder.</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony joins them down on the floor, hugging the two of them, signing and saying, “I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. ii. | The Soft Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The end draws near.</p><p>How will they take down May and Ken?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic descriptions of abuse and Natasha being too soft for comfort</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They took pictures of Alice, proof of the bruises, and realized they didn't have much of a case. Even with the obvious bruising and the scars all over her body, it could be chalked up to falling down and the like. But then Peter pulls out his phone and suddenly there are hundreds of pictures over the course of so many years filled with blood and bruises.</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony, the entire time of making the case against Ken and May, kept repeating that he was so stupid for not seeing it the entire time. Clint, Bucky, Steve, and Natasha stayed with the kids as Tony, Bruce, Happy, and Pepper went to speak with a lawyer. At least three different social workers stopped by throughout the next four days to talk to Peter and Alice. It was all very stressful for Peter and especially Alice who’s started stuttering even more.</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony decided to put a stop to the social workers for a few days, just to make Alice less scared and sad. Rather, they had a family game night, any of the Avengers that wanted to join were included too. They play Monopoly, Uno, and eventually watch movies. When Alice falls asleep, Clint and Natasha go with Alice to help with her nightmares and Pepper had disappeared with Joey. Bucky puts on Hamilton, and he and Peter are singing all of the songs with Tony joining in at random parts.</p><p>
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</p><p>Alice does what was assumed she would, waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about her dad. When she does this, Natasha is there, calming her down like Pietro had done to Wanda in their childhood. In all honesty, the girl reminded her of Wanda, like when she and her brother used to have nightmares because of what had happened in their childhood. The only difference being that the twins’ parents were killed and Alice’s were abusive.</p><p>
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</p><p>“Aunt Nat?” Alice mumbles, arms reaching out towards a random direction.</p><p>
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</p><p>Natasha happened to be that direction, signing, “I’m here, милая, I’m here.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Don’t let Ken hurt me,” Alice pleads, curling up in Natasha’s arms. “Please, I’ll be good if you don’t let him hurt me.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“He won’t hurt you, обещаю,” Natasha signs in response, fluffing up Alice’s hair, rocking them both back and forth. “Not when I’m around. I’ll be your knight in shining armor.”</p><p>
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</p><p>Alice eventually falls back asleep, closing her eyes and going still against Natasha’s chest, falling asleep to her humming. A smile spreads across Natasha’s face as she glances at a passed out Clint on the other side of the bed. She had always wanted to be a mother, and Alice was like her daughter. Carefully as to not wake Alice, she lays down and eventually falls asleep too, mind barely registering Clint scooting closer to the two.</p><p>
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</p><p>---</p><p>
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</p><p>The next day, Tony and Pepper show up, interrupting a karaoke day with Natasha, Bucky, Alice, Peter, and even Steve (though he seems less than enthusiastic). Tony immediately goes over to Peter and whispers to him the news. Pepper goes over to Natasha, and they both quickly go to Alice to tell her the news, leaving the rest of the Avengers out for now.</p><p>
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</p><p>“No way!” Peter exclaims, throwing his arms around Tony. “You’re kidding me!”</p><p>
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</p><p>And, at the same time, Alice bursts into happy tears, yelling, “Aunt Nat! Mommy!”</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony smiles warmly as he watches Pepper pick Alice up, planting a kiss on her head and spinning her around as Peter had the day before. The excitement bleeds throughout the room, spreading to Bucky and Steve and even Clint (who had been quietly watching them make utter fools out of themselves). When Pepper sets Alice down, she immediately sprints over to Bucky, yelling out his name and crying even harder, joyful rather than upset.</p><p>
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</p><p>“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Peter says, eyes not leaving Alice and Bucky.</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony rolls his eyes. “For the last time, kiddo, if you aren’t gonna call me dad, at least call me Tony.”</p><p>
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</p><p>---</p><p>
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</p><p>The entire team is at the court hearing, and Natasha is the first one Alice hugs when the judge finally announces what the sign language interpreter signs, "Peter, Alice, and Joey stark may now hug their family."</p><p>
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</p><p>Clint is holding Joey and practically splits his face in half with the smile that spreads across his face. Peter watches May stand and start screaming at Tony, threatening to kill him or to kill Peter because they both ruined her life. There’s a bruise on her face similar to the one’s Peter would have. When Ken thought Peter wasn’t listening to him, he would grab onto his chin as tightly as possible and would yank his head forward. She quickly forces her attention to Alice, threatening her life.</p><p>
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</p><p>
  <em> If it wasn’t for her threatening their lives, Peter would feel sorry for her. </em>
</p><p>
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</p><p>She and Ken are escorted out by police officers, and May’s screaming could be heard for quite a while after she got pulled out of the courtroom. A picture of the Avengers team, Pepper, and the three kids is taken. Alice, though, is clinging to Pepper, scared out of her mind due to May’s angry words, shaking and crying. Extracting herself from Alice’s hold, Pepper kneels down and whispers to her, Natasha going down right next to Pepper. </p><p>
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</p><p>“Милая,” Natasha signs as Pepper wipes the girl's tears, “I promised I would protect you. And this entire team will, too. We are all your knights in shining armor.”</p><p>
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</p><p>Tony joins them, grumbling softly about being too old to kneel down like this. “You are my daughter, and I will protect you.”</p>
  </div></div>
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